Quick Tip: Make Your Milky Way Photos Glow

Are you ready to take your Milky Way photos to the next level? Check out a few of my favorite methods for making the Milky Way pop and glow! Here's a simple glow effect you can try in Photoshop:

1) Add a levels adjustment layer to the top of your layer stack.

2) Set the blend mode of that adjustment layer to Overlay.

3) Adjust the levels sliders to taste, shoot for a look where most of the sky is dark but the Milky Way is very bright. It should look harsh and weird at this point, but that's ok!

4) Merge all the visible layers to a new layer, keeping the rest of your layers in tact.

5) Disable or remove the levels adjustment layer created in step 2.

6) Apply a Gaussian Blur to the new merge visible layer, try a radius of somewhere between 20 - 40 pixels or higher, it should look soft and blurry but not so blurry that that you can't even recognize the Milky Way anymore.

7) Change the blend mode of the blurred layer to Soft Light and adjust the opacity of that layer to taste.

8) Your image should now have a lot more contrast and a soft glow! Mask out the foreground and stars as needed if they are being effected too much.

Are you excited to learn more? Check out the training part of my website for video tutorials, including my new video "Making the Milky Way Pop" that covers the above technique and a many others with 3 example photos. Happy editing!

New Video Tutorial! Making The Milky Way Pop!

I'm very excited to announce the release of my new video tutorial!

Creative Edits Volume 2: Making The Milky Way Pop

This new video course builds on my previous Creative Edits Volume 1 video by using advanced techniques in Photoshop to really make the Milky Way pop and glow. This video course assumes a working knowledge of Photoshop but should be useful for people of any skill level.

Here's a preview of what's included:

Topics include:

• Creative editing examples with 3 images in Photoshop
• An explanation of the blend modes we'll use
• Using levels adjustments in Photoshop
• Using levels with blend modes
• Using orton effects to create glow
• Using Adobe Camera Raw as a smart filter in Photoshop
• Advanced masking techniques to control edits
• Protecting the stars from getting lost or blown out in the edits

The runtime for this new video course is 52 minutes spread across 5 video chapters.

You can learn more about the video at the following link:

http://www.adamwoodworth.com/video-tutorials/making-the-milky-way-pop

Gear Review: NiSi 150mm Filters

Nikon D810, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, NiSi filter holder with NiSi 3-stop GND

This is the second part of my review of the NiSi Filter system.  This review focuses on the 2 filters that I was provided by NiSi.  You can see my review of the filter holder here: http://blog.adamwoodworth.com/2015/12/gear-review-nisi-filter-holder.html

To re-cap: In August of 2015 I was contacted by NiSi, a Chinese company that makes camera filters. They offered me a filter holder for the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens and a couple filters in return for sending them photos and writing reviews. They are fairly new to the market so I hadn't really heard of them, but a quick look at some product information that I was sent and a Google search made me interested because the holder appeared to be a single piece that went on easier than the Fotodiox system I have, and the filters looked to be smaller than the monstrous Fotodiox rectangular grad filters I had tried (they were so big I never even used them). So in November of 2015 NiSi sent me the holder for the Nikon 14-24mm lens, a 10-stop 150mm square filter, and a 150x170mm rectangular 3-stop soft graduated neutral density filter.

The large 150mm NiSi filters are glass instead of resin based.  This means they are easy to clean and scratch resistant, at the cost of being a little heavier.  The filters appear to be high quality and I honestly don't have many negative things to say about them.  The filter holder is great, the filters are great, the holder is easy to put on, the filters came with nice leatherette pouches, and I can wipe them without worrying about scratching them. The leatherette pouches even come with a card inserted into a plastic sleeve that displays what filter is in the pouch and the technical details of the filter.  What's not to love?

Nikon D810, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, NiSi filter holder with NiSi 3-stop GND and 10-stop ND

The only real negative thing I can think of is that the 10-stop filter doesn't come with any documentation mentioning the gaskset.  The 10-stop has a rubber gasket stuck to the backside to prevent light leakage, and if you don't put it on or take it out of the holder the right way you will strip some of the gasket.  It would be nice to have a little pamphlet included with the 10-stop filter mentioning this just in case you aren't paying attention (like I did when I tried to remove the 10-stop and didn't realize the gasket was asymmetrical and meant the filter couldn't slide downwards to be taken out of the holder).

3-stop soft GND

NiSi 3-stop GND 150x170mm, the magenta color is from the filter glass reflecting the house lights.

This is a great filter, I have no complaints about it.  It does it's job well and without any color cast. The magenta color you see in the filter in the photo above is the glass reflecting the house lights.

10-stop ND

NiSi 10-stop ND 150x150mm.

I've enjoyed using this filter.  It's been a long time since I've done 10-stop exposures at the ocean, and it was a lot of fun to try those again.  This is a great filter that has a nice gasket on the back to help block light.  As mentioned above, make sure you insert and remove this filter properly to avoid damaging the gasket.  You also need to place this filter in the slot of the holder that is closest to the lens, and you may need to go one step further and put some masking tape around the holder to block as much light as you can.  You may or may not have to do that depending on the ambient light.

Here you can see the light leak gasket on the back of the NiSi 10-stop ND.

As with most 10-stop square filters this one vignettes a bit, that is, the density is less in the center than on the edges.  So your long exposures come out a bit brighter in the center and darker on the edges.  This is usually corrected with some vignette correction in Lightroom or Photoshop.

I haven't experienced any major color cast with this 10-stop filter, which is really nice.  I think it pushes a little cool but it's not a big deal and easily corrected in post.  I've also stacked the 3-stop with the 10-stop and didn't see any dramatic color shifting.

Nikon D810, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, NiSi filter holder with NiSi 3-stop GND.

Conclusion

I really enjoy the NiSi filter system for my Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens.  It's not as big as other systems for the same lens, so they fit in my bag more easily, and the products are high quality.

Where to Buy NiSi Products in the US
You can buy NiSi products through 2filter: http://www.2filter.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/NiSi_Filters.html

Interviewed in the Jan 2016 issue of Digital Photo Pro!

I'm incredibly excited to announce that I have an interview in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue of Digital Photo Pro Magazine!  I was interviewed about my landscape astrophotography work, and the article features a number of my pictures.  On newsstands now!